Chapter 130

~~Beatrice~~

She walked into Jacob’s alcove, down its curved path, and stopped at the fur curtain that blocked off his homely hole in the Circle’s cave. She’d heard the noises, but decided to barge in anyway. If the two of them wanted some privacy, they could easily fuck somewhere else.

Bingo. Triss smiled as she pulled the fur curtain aside, leaned her shoulder against the curved entrance of his alcove, and watched.

Samantha. Sweet, innocent, naive Samantha, was tied up. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and judging from the thick chain between the cuffs, they were some heavy duty handcuffs. Daeva were strong, like Nos, but Samantha was a fledgling and wouldn’t be breaking through handcuffs like that. But at least they looked fuzzy. Very thick, but fuzzy.

She faced away from the entrance, so she didn’t notice Triss, which was perfect cause god damn, this was fucking hot. Jacob was sitting all comfy and lazy with his back against the wall, facing Triss, and the dude was naked save for a gray bandage wrapped around his eyes. Samantha sat on his lap, squirming and wriggling, as the man held onto her hips to keep her from falling back.

Two kine sat nearby, a man and woman, youngish. Jacob’s thralls? Triss didn’t recognize them, but he wouldn’t bring them to the cave unless they were blood bound. They were naked, obviously drained of blood, and had dopey, exhausted smiles on, despite being unconscious. Lots of juices around too. She didn’t know if they fucked each other or if Samantha and Jacob did something to them, but either way, damn.

Samantha let out a squeak as Jacob bounced her, his hands hooking her ass. Dude could probably throw a firetruck, so using just his arms to bounce her would be damn easy, enough that he could sit back and watch, as if he wasn’t doing a damn thing.

Triss opened her mouth when Jacob noticed her, but slowly closed it. Hey, it was pretty damn hot, watching the beautiful milf obviously enjoying herself. And you should never interrupt a woman about to orgasm.

She didn’t have to wait long. Two minutes later, Samantha’s whimpers turned into panting groans, and she collapsed forward against Jacob’s chest. He set a kiss on her head, and gave Triss a pleased smile. Triss mouthed ‘how many times?’ and Jacob answered ‘three’. Yeap, that was one happy milf.

“Didn’t take long for you to really let loose, did it?” Triss said.

“W-What? Beatrice! I—” She tried to push away from Jacob, but she had no hands to do it, and when she tried to use her legs to push away from the wall, Jacob gave her a hard downward yank, straight onto his dick. She squeaked, and her body trembled as she collapsed onto Jacob’s chest again. Ah yes, the prolonged orgasm, fucking awesome.

“What brings you to my humble abode, Beatrice?” Jacob said, voice perfectly level and casual.

“Wanted to talk about witchy stuff, but it can wait a bit.”

“Good.” The man winked at her — it was all in the eyebrows — and gently eased Samantha back, and back, and back. She slipped off his cock with a groan, landing on her back between his legs, and Jacob slid a nearby pillow under her ass.

Triss grinned down at the woman, since she was now on her back and looking up at Triss, upside down. Grin turned into an outright groan when Jacob slid Samantha away a bit, grabbed his cock, aimed it a bit lower, and slid the woman back closer to him.

“Jacob!” Samantha squeaked, lifting her head to look down her naked body to the man. But before she could try and sit back up, Jacob settled his grip on her hips again, and gently bounced her back and forth along the pillow and into his body.

Samantha managed to open her eyes again and look up at Triss, and the fuckton of emotions there were amazing. Embarrassed, panicked, overwhelmed with guilt and shame, and most of all, completely maxed on the pleasure scale. Well, Jacob was old as dirt, and had probably literally fucked a hundred thousand women in his lifetime. Not only that, the fucker knew people, knew them inside and out, knew how to read them, how to manipulate them, how to control them. Or, in this case, knew exactly how to make them cum their brains out.

And sure, of course Jacob could make Samantha climax easily. Sure he’d probably pushed things on her, made her try new things against her will, knowing full well she’d absolutely love it once she gave in. Or, didn’t give in, but he did it to her anyway, to great effect. And sure, Samantha was cumming her brains out right now, and probably even harder now that Triss was here to watch; all part of Jacob’s plan to turn Samantha into a total sex freak, to be sure.

But none of that was what had Triss struggling to keep her smile hidden. It was how Jacob looked at Samantha. Jacob always had a twisted happy look on his face, typical Joker sorta shit, but now, his smile was soft, gentle, and dare she think it, endearing. He seemed genuinely happy to be pleasuring her. It wasn’t like Jacob couldn’t sleep with any woman he wanted; his Nos mutation was easily hidden, and the bastard was smooth as silk when he wanted to be. Either with money or a drop of blood or a witty tongue, Jacob could have half a dozen of the most beautiful, big-titted bimbo models in Dolareido riding his dick all night.

He never did that sorta shit though. Hell, Triss was pretty damn sure Samantha was the first woman Jacob had slept with since Triss had joined the circle. Maybe even since Minerva. Whatever his reason, he seemed genuinely happy, even if it was only a little. Certainly not little for Samantha, who was squirming and wriggling and trying to escape, but completely trapped as Jacob gently bounced her ass on his dick. Yeap, they’d switched to anal. And considering how quickly he’d penetrated her, the girl had already been prepped and lubed.

“Who’s idea was this?” Triss said, gesturing down at Samantha, and then to the two spent kine.

Jacob grinned at her. “Hers.”

“N-No! It wasn’t! I—nnnn.” Poor poor Samantha bucked her hips, and started squirming and wriggling extra hard, only to have her efforts defeated, and rewarded, with more pleasure.

“I think she’s got a crush on Othello,” Jacob said. “I’m just helping her release those fantasies, so she’s Madison right now.”

“Ah, that explains it.”

Samantha was definitely the sort of milf who’d more or less ride any sort of sexual atmosphere, from what Triss had seen. If Othello had been more into tit fucking Madison, Samantha would probably be using her — albeit much smaller — tits on Jacob. If he’d been more into just lying back and letting Madison ride him cowgirl style, Samantha would probably be doing that for Jacob, showing off her body and dancing on him.

Triss was tempted to voice the obvious comparison between Jack and Samantha, but, nah, no good to ruin the sex by bringing up the mom’s son.

“I was trying to convince her that if she wanted, she could invite Othello to watch, maybe fuck Madison beside us. Or, you know, we could both fuck her at the same time.” Jacob shrugged, hands still wrapped around the women’s hips. “But Samantha’s shy.”

Triss laughed, came around, and sat beside Jacob. Just witches doing witch stuff, talking and fucking and talking while fucking. Plus, maybe a different part of Jacob’s personality would come out, if she talked to him now? She’d seen him fuck Samantha before, but never up close like this, and she’d never really talked to him during.

Course, Jacob could probably chat about anything, from politics to chess maneuvers, and it wouldn’t mess with his fucking. Just came with the territory of being five hundred years old. Triss, on the other hand, found sex extremely distracting and enticing, and from her new vantage point, she watched Samantha again struggle and wriggle to try and escape Jacob’s grip, super embarrassed by Triss’s new position. All that struggling just made sex feel better, got everything tighter, and Samantha again erupted into mewls as Jacob bounced her on his dick a few more times.

Samantha’s thighs trembled, her toes curled, and some fluid slowly trickled out of her clenching, empty pussy, down her folds and skin, and onto Jacob’s dick. Yeah, she really was riding Madison’s wavelength. The fact that Triss watched her cum, and cum from pure anal, was hitting all the milf’s buttons, and she groaned again as Jacob resumed bouncing her.

“You two been getting along?” she asked, eyes still locked on the obscene, beautiful display.

“Nope. We hate each other.” Jacob nodded, as if speaking obvious fact, and he nodded toward Samantha. “Don’t we?”

“Jacob you ... you...” She managed to lift her head long enough to give Triss a very guilty gaze, before it fell back, and she succumbed to Jacob’s rhythm.

“So, how long did it take you to figure out Samantha wanted to be tied up and punished, sexually?”

“Five minutes.”

Triss laughed, and leaned against the entrance of the shower. A nearby building had open showers, some old factory that used to do manual labor of some kind. It’d been repurposed into some kind of office building, but there was still an open shower in the basement that the kine didn’t use. Far as Triss knew, no other Kindred knew about it save for the Circle, and it wasn’t like the other covenants didn’t have easy access to showers. The witches didn’t.

Jacob stepped under the shower, and Triss whistled as the water hit his hair.

“You know boss, you’re a damn sexy guy. Why don’t you normally show off more skin? Every other vamp in Dolareido does.”

He was a damn sexy guy. The lean build kinda reminded her of Brad Pitt in Fight Club, but the wavy salt and pepper hair, a few inches long, gave him that mature older man vibe. Of course, when he removed the bandage and turned to face her, that vibe vanished. Jacob’s eyes were straight up gone, eyelids too, and they looked like they’d been removed with a serrated spoon. Yeah, better he keep the bandage on.

“I’m shy.”

“Ha! You don’t know the meaning of the word, you asshole.”

He laughed, shrugged, and started soaping up. She’d never tell the man, cause she’d never hear the end of it, but dude had a great dick, and she grinned as she looked him up and down as he lathered it. Samantha was lucky. Fucker probably did a ritual on himself to get a dick like that, like Antoinette probably did for the tits.

“It’s a useful trick, to make people think I’m a scrawny little old man underneath my clothes.”

“Not like muscles indicate much about a vampire’s strength. All vamps know that.”

“Who said it was for them?” He grinned at her, washing the lube off his dick while looking right at her. The dick washing was kinda hot. The empty eye sockets were not. “I deal with plenty of things that aren’t Kindred. As far as they know, my strength is proportional to my size.”

“Strange thought. I’m too used to dealing with vampires, and shit like Jack, strong in a small package. I forget there’s crap out there like Uratha.”

He snorted quietly at the U word, but looked away from her and into the water.

Oh fucking god, the water pooled inside his eye sockets! Jesus fuck. The bastard must have noticed her face, probably all fucked up with disgust, and laughed at her, before he leaned forward to let the water fall out of his eyes. Like dumping out a couple cups.

“Dust and dirt gets in there, ya big baby.”

“Uh huh.” Well, she’d felt weird before, thinking about Jacob in a sexy way. And he was sexy, especially now that she’d seen him making Samantha cum her brains out. But it was probably a good thing he also grossed her out.

“You obviously have something you want to ask, Triss.”

“Maybe I just want to watch you shower.”

“After what I just did?” He pointed at his eyes, and borderline cackled.

“Just look the other way or put the bandage back on, and we’re golden.”

“Ha. Get as old as me and it won’t bother you. You think Maria’s skin bothered Lucas?”

Triss shivered at that idea. “I figured she and Lucas didn’t fuck.”

Jacob threw his head back and laughed even louder. “That old myth that elders lose their taste for sex.”

“Bullshit?”

“Bullshit. Besides, Maria looks fine in the dark.”

Nothing could stop the ugly snort laugh Triss made. “Ha! Paper bag body?” She gestured putting a paper bag on her head.

They laughed again. God damn, it felt weird, and awesome, laughing with her boss like this. She used to talk to him all the time, before Julias died, but it’d never been personal back then, mostly meaningless insults. After he died, the only thing she ever talked to Jacob about for a long time was revenge, the hunters, and Crúac. So, macabre shit. And now her world was even more macabre, more fucked up, with the sick shit she was doing a couple times a week, but it didn’t feel so bad. At least, not when she was talking with Jacob about it, now that their relationship had evolved. Kinda like colleagues chatting about work.

And if things kept going the way they were, with Samantha igniting everyone’s sex drive like napalm on paper, she knew she’d be seeing a lot more of her and naked Jacob. Two more weeks and they’d probably all get together in the same room, fuck their partners, and have a friendly chat while doing it. Just witches, doing witch things.

“Put a few hundred years under your belt, and you’ll be pretty damn surprised with what turns you on.”

“Samantha already seems pretty, uh, awoken.”

“What, some kine for foreplay, then some handcuffs, anal, and a visitor?” He laughed again and shrugged. “A century ago, I met a vampire who couldn’t even get horny unless she was tied up, and getting split-roasted by three men at once, while hanging horizontally from a pole like savages were about to cook her over a fire.”

She held her hands out in front of her and tried to mentally arrange the girl and three men doing that. Didn’t exactly fit. “That sounds like it’d be difficult to make happen regularly.”

“Sure, if you’re kine. She was a Kindred. She had a bunch of thralls ready to do whatever she wanted.”

“That reminds me. Any rituals that actually involve having sex?”

After a sew seconds pause, Jacob shrugged. “Rituals are mostly about intent. The steps in the ritual create the physical barriers to overcome to give it weight, and mental steps so you can appreciate what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, you told me.”

“Then use your head, dumbass.”

She frowned as she rolled her eyes. “So, if the ritual needs steps, then the steps also need to be a barrier. I can’t just, do something I was already going to do, and call it a ritual. It’s something I need to overcome in the specific context of a ritual.”

The naked man grinned at her. “Look at you, thinking like a scientist.”

“Yeah yeah, fuck you. So, if I wanted to do a ritual that ... I don’t know, affected someone sexually, I’d have to discover the ritual, and in the act of discovering it, will be shown steps to perform it. The steps will probably involve sex, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy or enjoyable.”

“It’ll take effort, and vitae, and no ritual is done for free, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.” He turned off the water, and got to drying with a towel.

This was an interesting side of Crúac, and she grinned as she felt the buzz of excitement and interest run through her. It didn’t always have to be super dark shit; certainly leaned that way, but didn’t have to be.

“So, have you—”

“Yes, you horny little fuck,” he said, cackling again as he put his eye bandage back on, “I’ve done rituals during an orgy. Many, in my younger days, usually to give me power over people, alter the way they think, and have villages sort of ... protect me, in a way.”

“Protect?”

“Ever see a creepy vampire movie, or read a creepy vampire story, where everyone in the village or city or whatever is acting weird, and they all sorta try and dissuade our intruding main character from investigating disappearances?”

“Oh, I get it. You had the whole town brainwashed. That’s some classic vampire shit. And pretty awesome, honestly.”

“Yeap. But convincing an entire village to get in on an orgy isn’t easy. Convincing them to do it, outside under a full moon, with me at the center with seven virgin girls, each lined up and taking turns sitting on my dick? That took years of effort to set up.”

Wow, that was a damn powerful image. “And the virgins—”

“Enjoyed themselves immensely,” he said, grinning at her. “And since I know you’re a horn ball teenager who can’t see past her own tits: I Kissed every one of them during the act, and then bled my wrists into a ritual bowl.” His grin widened, right into Joker territory again. “Those seven became my ghouls. I had them for fifty years. They protected me and fed me. I had a cave nearby, one you couldn’t climb into without modern climbing gear, unless you were a vampire. During the night, I came out, and—”

“And fucked and fed on those seven ghouls.”

“Of course.”

All she could do was laugh. This man was supposed to be a big, bad, powerful Nosferatu, a master warlock, and all around scary fucker. And he was all those things, but he was also a damn silly guy. It was hard to be afraid of someone when laughing at them, and with them. Maybe that was part of his shtick.

“Samantha know about this sorta stuff?”

“Some. I can’t just dump all the crazy on her at once. But, she is coming to appreciate the Kindred life, and the Circle, pretty quickly, wouldn’t you say?” The grin that followed was so perfectly smooth and suave, Triss found herself staring at the man. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how much the rest of you have taken an interest in her.”

“She’s ... surprisingly fun,” she said.

“Yeah, she is. She’s had a rough life, a damn rough life, but she’s pulling through.”

Triss raised a brow at that, and tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at the man. If she didn’t know better, she’d think that was some genuine concern in his voice.

“You like her.”

He barked a laugh. “Uh, yeah. I happen to be fucking her, in case you didn’t notice?”

She shrugged. “People who barely care about each other fuck each other all the time, for a lot of different reasons. Hell, people who hate each other fuck each other sometimes. And you damn well know that.” No point in giving the man tidbits of advice about the nature of people. He knew more about that than she ever would.

“Aren’t you wise to the ways of the world.”

“Jacob, come on, don’t dodge me. I’m not going to think less of you for liking someone.”

He got his pants on, but instead of reaching for his shirt, he looked at her, face unreadable. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, if she’s the first girl you’ve really ever opened up to since Minerva, then of course you’re going to be ... I don’t know ... feeling a bit guilty about it?” Dangerous waters she was treading. If she said the wrong thing, or crossed a line, Jacob wouldn’t hesitate to break her arm or something. That’s what shit was like in the Circle, good and bad.

He stared at her, and she did her best to keep her eyes on his eye bandage. She also did her best to keep her weight on the balls of her feet, in case she had to dodge a punch.

“Being kind of hypocritical, don’t you think?”

“Uh, what? Not—”

“Julias died months ago.”

She snarled. Ok, if this was the direction the conversation was going to go, if he was willing to get their words dirty, then fuck him.

“Months ain’t very long, asshole.”

“You dated him for what, bit over two years? I was with Minerva for decades, kid.” He said ‘kid’ with all the viciousness of an angry mentor, someone who knew where to dig to deal damage, someone whose opinion he figured she thought highly of. And she did.

“You saying I didn’t love him as much as you did Minerva?” She regretted it the moment she said it, not because she might hurt his feelings, but because he wasn’t going to mince words on this topic. And much as she tried to push past it, this topic was still sensitive as fuck. If he wanted to, really wanted to, he could drop a few words and leave her a weeping mess.

He took a step toward her. She stood her ground.

“I’m saying you weren’t with the man long enough for his death to leave too deep a scar, dumbass.”

“I—”

“Shut up.” He came in closer. Again, she didn’t back off, but she damn well knew she should have. He was only two feet from her now, and if he wanted to get in a punch, she wouldn’t even see it coming. “Ever talk to an old person, someone who’s been with their partner for decades, and then suddenly they’re alone? It’s not just that the person they loved more than the whole world is dead, but that a part of who they were is gone. A part of their routine, a part of how they operated. Imagine waking up and you’re suddenly missing a hand. You reach for a doorknob, don’t remember the missing hand, and then walk straight into the door. You can’t even open a can of fucking beans anymore.”

She almost laughed, but the man’s tone crushed the possibility.

“When you lose someone you’ve been with for that long, a part of you is chopped off,” he continued, “and you don’t recover, so much as learn to live with the handicap.”

“But ... we’re vampires, Jacob. We live forever. We get to recover, right? And ... you too?”

“Yeah, we can. But that doesn’t mean recovering from that sort of wound is easy. You were with Julias for a couple years. And yeah, I was happy for you, kid. Seemed like a great relationship. But you weren’t with him long enough to have him become one of your hands. I was with Minerva long enough that she was. So if you’ll excuse me, don’t compare your situation to mine. It’s not about guilt for me, unlike you. It’s about a million things you’re not nearly old enough to understand. It’s about ... testing out a new hand, and trying to my damnedest to give it a fair shot.”

Sighing, Triss finally took a step back and lowered her head. It was all true. She’d loved Julias, loved him with everything she had, but a bit over two years wasn’t long enough to develop the same sort of reliance and cooperative existence Jacob was talking about. It meant she would recover, where he might never.

“If ... if Minerva was that important to you, why did you give up on resurrection?”

He snorted a sad laugh, turned, and started putting on his shirt. “Gave up for the time being, Triss. You still have a long way to go with your attempt before you’ve put in as much work into it as I did. And I never really gave up. I’m just ... biding my time.”

“Biding your time?”

He grinned, that usual, half psycho grin of his. “I’ll tell you more about it sometime. But for now, keep doing what you’re doing. Hey, maybe you’ll learn something I didn’t.” He walked past her, and she fell in beside him as he stepped out into the empty night streets of North Side.

“So, about Samantha,” she said.

“You saw her naked and cumming just an hour ago. That horny to see some more of her?”

“What? Dude, I—”

“Give it a few more weeks and I’m sure she’ll let you touch her. Hell, one more week and she’ll probably want me and Othello to fuck her at the same time.”

Triss facepalmed and groaned. “No! Dude, no. I meant, you ... so you really like her?”

He rolled his eyes — all in the head motion — and laughed again. “Yes, you idiot.”

“Good, good.” She nodded, and smiled to herself as she looked out at the empty street, the street lights, and the images running through her head. “You really just, gonna share her with the whole Circle?”

“That wasn’t originally my intention, but the more it comes up, the hornier she gets. Who am I to say no to her desires? Not like I haven’t done all that and worse in my lifetime. Like I said, village, orgy, seven virgins.”

Triss should have laughed, but she didn’t. Instead, she set a claw on her lips, and thought about it, about that milf sitting on Jacob’s dick, except with Othello and Madison there, and Jen and Triss too, everyone just fucking each other and being happy in a very weird, intimate, witchy atmosphere.

“It ... does kinda make me ... feel guilty,” she said. “I know Julias and I weren’t together super long, but still. And ... and we were a little more conservative with the sex, you know? I mean yeah, Jen was always with us, and sometimes we invited some kine, but without Julias, I feel...”

“You know damn well the man wouldn’t want you to feel guilty.”

“Sure, yeah, and—”

“Sexual healing is a thing. Jen’s been trying to help you with that this whole damn time. Hell, whatever happened to that dude she was obviously trying to get you with?”

She smirked at the man. Jacob damn well knew the man’s name was Sándor, and he was doing that guy thing guys did where they pretended to forget a dude’s name. Course, he wasn’t doing it for the reasons a guy would.

“Sándor, dumbass.”

“Well, go find him and fuck him.”

She shook her head and sighed. “Dude is boring.”

“He’s a stoic fucker, I’ll give him that. But he’s probably fucking miserable, and I’d bet good money that’s a big part of why he’s so boring.”

“So, you think, what? If I fuck him, he’ll be more fun?”

The asshole grinned at her like a happy pirate. It wouldn’t have surprised her at all if he suddenly broke into a sea shanty. “I think if you and Jen fuck him, he’ll be more fun.”

“Jesus fucking christ. How does Samantha put up with you?”

He hooked an arm over Triss’s shoulders, and laughed a merry laugh, again, like a pirate. “That woman has a bigger sex drive than I do, and kinkier tastes. It’s just taking her a little bit to uncover them.”

“You’re corrupting her.”

“Not even a little. If anything, she’s corrupting me.”

They laughed again. The idea of sweet, naive Samantha corrupting Jacob was pretty funny, and honestly, Triss could see it. Samantha was a walking bundle of sexual desire, and if Jacob kept nudging her onto paths the woman very much wanted to go down, it really wouldn’t be long before things got super crazy in the Circle’s cave. And, much as she tried to find that idea unappealing, Triss didn’t. If Samantha and Jacob wanted to fuck right next to Triss and Jen, at this point, Triss wouldn’t mind. Samantha’s sweetness, combined with the milf vibe, was too damn hot. And, to her surprise, she didn’t mind the idea of Jacob being there either. She didn’t want to fuck him, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find him attractive, or the sight of him fucking Samantha insanely sexy.

Sexual healing, Jen said. Sexual healing, Jacob said. Or were they just some horny witches that wanted to escalate the already insanely sexual Circle into full on orgy sex? Probably both.

“Sándor’s busy with the other Begotten. Azamel’s dying, and he’s going to replace her as the leader of their little group, supposedly. Or at least their guardian.”

Jacob shrugged, arm still hooked over her shoulders. “Sounds like a powerful individual, politically speaking. Even better reason to get him into bed.”

She rolled her eyes again, but some tantalizing images of Sándor drifted up from memory. Him, basically naked, getting dressed by Jennifer for the ball. He was damn fucking sexy, too. But the man reeked of maturity and wisdom, and pain. And yeah, it was obvious now that that pain scared her. The man was just so fucking broken, and it scared the shit out of her to see what losing a family could do to a man, a father and husband.

“Pretty sure he’s not interested.”

“Probably feels guilty.”

“G—” Fucking shit. She sealed her lips. Everyone feeling guilty for everything these days. “You think ... I...”

“I think you should cut yourself some slack, you moron. Guilt is normal. It doesn’t mean you’re doing something bad, just that a part of you thinks you are. And guess what? We’re all idiots, and think things that are wrong all the damn fucking time. You know damn well Julias would want you to move on and find happiness, and get laid. I know damn well Minerva would want me to do the same. Still feels weird, being with another vampire, even one as nice and sweet — and horny — as Samantha. But a big difference between you and me, Triss, is that I’m aware that these feelings are dumb, that it’s ok to feel them, and it’s ok to let them go.”

She did her best to keep her voice steady, but it still came out a little wavery. “Sometimes you make it easy, for me to forget you’re really fucking old, and actually probably know a lot of shit.”

“All part of my charm.” He winked at her — all in the eyebrow — and let go of her. “If you want to keep trying to resurrect Julias, go ahead. Lots of witches and warlocks have tried, and failed, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. And if you feel guilty for fucking someone, while trying to resurrect your old lover, don’t worry about it.”

“And if I feel guilty because I ... because I’m trying to resurrect him? Because I’m killing kine to do it? Because—”

The man held up a hand. “That’s part of being a witch, Beatrice. That’s a big part of being a member of the Circle of the Crone. And it’s personal.” He sighed, a serious sigh, and she raised a brow. Jacob saying serious things was one thing, but for Jacob to actually sound serious, to use a heavy sounding voice? That was rare. “You’re stepping into deep shit, but sometimes that’s what’s needed to change the world.”